Turner Motorsport set for Pirelli World Challenge run at St. Pete

A note from sports car team owner Will Turner on Friday points to the Massachusetts-based BMW specialists making at least a limited return to the series where Turner Motorsport built its reputation.

Turner's TUDOR United SportsCar Championship program, featuring a GT3-spec BMW Z4 entered in the GT Daytona class, earned pole position at last weekend's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and according to Turner, "After a seventh-place finish, we changed the oil, wiped her down and are busy converting it 'back' to GT3 specs."

With a long pause until the TUDOR Championship's GTD class returns to action on May 4 in Monterey, Turner will contest the first round of the Pirelli World Challenge series next weekend at St. Petersburg, site of the Verizon IndyCar Series opener. It's believed the team is also interested in campaigning the car at the Long Beach PWC round, provided an opening can be found due to the entry list already being full.

Whether the team has any long-ranging plans to compete in the PWC series is currently unknown. It's also believed either full-season TUDOR Championship driver Dane Cameron or longtime Turner driver Bill Auberlen will handle the driving duties in the PWC's sprint racing format.

Turner and Auberlen combined to win back-to-back World Challenge titles in 2003 and 2004 with a BMW 325i dressed in the team's familiar blue and yellow livery, blitzing the Touring Car division. The team would eventually move into endurance racing, where it has had success in the Continental Tire Series and the Grand-Am Rolex GT category.

The addition of Turner's V8-powered Z4 will compensate for the absence of the highly anticipated AWD Acura TLX GT racer from RealTime Racing, which is now expected to make its debut at Long Beach.

Veteran German driver Michael Bartels had also expressed an interest in fielding a BMW Z4 at St. Petersburg, but those plans have apparently fallen through.​